Sabbath Trading
The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice ruled it was for English courts to decide whether Sabbath trading restrictions interfered with the right of free trade with the Community. This is a set back to the Sabbath trading lobby yet some supermarkets said that they would continue trading. It would appear that these large supermarkets will continue to defy the law and will press the Government to change the Sabbath trading laws in England and Wales. The Government on its part is only too willing to change these laws if only they can get a measure of agreement on how they should be changed. The fact that the law of the Sabbath is an integral part of the unchanging law of God is lost sight of by the supermarkets and the Government. The Lord, however, will defend His own Day and will bring men and nations to see that they violate and trample underfoot the Sabbath Day at their peril.
R.C. Professor of Theology at Southampton
Dr Mary Grey has been appointed Professor of Contemporary Theology at Southampton University. The convent-educated Professor specialises in feminist theology. She plans to teach feminist, creation, political and liberation theology to students at Anglican colleges in the Southampton area. Her radical approach to theology she believes could be the salvation of the declining Churches. In fact, her influence can only lead to a further deterioration in the Church of England so far as theology is concerned. What need there is for men to be raised up in Universities and Divinity Colleges who would be committed to the Reformed Faith. Only then can we hope to see a change for the better in Churches that have long since departed from the faith which was once delivered to the saints.
Illegitimate Births
There is serious concern even in government circles over the high percentage of illegitimate births among teenagers. It is reckoned to be 80 per cent of all teenage births. In some areas the percentage is even higher. These figures give an indication of the low moral state of the nation. Only a change in the spiritual state of the nation will bring a change in the moral state of the land. How applicable are the words of Isaiah to our day — “Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”
The Pope’s Mortality
Notwithstanding the adulation of his infatuated followers, the recent illness of the Pope is a reminder that soon he must die. His mortality is as certain as his fallability. One moment “he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God”, and the next moment he may be lying in the dust and his soul in a lost eternity. So is the end of all the Popes of Rome. The present Pope has survived two assassination attempts. Even the one designated by Scripture as — “that Wicked . . . whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” — cannot depart this life until the purposes of God concerning him are fulfilled. For the destruction of the Antichristian system of Rome the true Church prays, yet even the people of God must wait the Lord’s time for the fulfilment of their petitions. On the book of Revelation the souls under the altar, that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held, “cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, does thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” They were given white robes and told “that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled”. The papacy must go on until her cup is full and then she shall be destroyed. What a day it will be on the earth when the cry is heard: “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.”
European Sabbath
In a debate in the European Parliament, MEPs expressed their concern that Sabbath working might spread from the UK into other EC States. The Parliament voted for a general ban on Sabbath working except for essential services and where there was an agreement between management and the workforce. The Council is also moving towards the same position and a ban could be agreed at the next Social Affairs Committee meeting on 30th April, when the proposed Directive on working time will be discussed.
This should encourage Christians that it is quite feasible in this modern age to expect whole nations to honour the Sabbath rest. But the Government are considering how to deregulate restrictions upon Sabbath trading. The European Court of Justice has recently ruled that under present legislation, it is for Member States to decide on Sabbath working. While this means that the present Shops Act 1950 is to be honoured, it also means that the Government will now set about its repeal in earnest. This is causing countries such as Germany to fear the threat of increased international competition to their own Sabbath and is leading to the present debate. The “continental Sunday” was always a bit of a myth.
D.B.M.